Chapter 2: Xu Xin

After everyone boarded the ship, Qin Ge saw another girl at the helmsman's position of the yacht; if he wasn't mistaken, this girl was also a shipgirl.

Sure enough, Xu Xin introduced her in his usual friendly way: "This is also my shipgirl; her name is A Ruo Tuo Sha. She's great in every way, except her temper is a bit…"

"Someone like you as a commander, I wouldn't admit it, humph!" Xu Xin was saying when A Ruo Tuo Sha shouted at him.

"That's right, that's exactly how it is." Xu Xin winked at Qin Ge, then turned and went over to apologize to A Ruo Tuo Sha.

But at this moment, Qin Ge's thoughts were racing; this truly was a miraculous world, one he had never dared imagine. As a graduate of the Haijun Zhihui Xueyuan, he naturally had studied the warships of all nations, and his major was campaign theory research; he had dabbled in all the famous naval battles in history.

Xu Xin's two shipgirls: one is modeled after the US Navy Mahan-class destroyer, the 12th ship, the destroyer Tang Si; the other is modeled after the Daying Navy A Ruo Tuo Sha-class light cruiser, the 1st ship, the light cruiser A Ruo Tuo Sha. However, their original vessels were a 1500-ton destroyer and a 5220-ton light cruiser, yet now they have become two lovely young girls—

"Unbelievable..." Qin Ge murmured softly as he watched Xu Xin apologizing to A Ruo Tuo Sha.

"What's unbelievable?" As Qin Ge was surprised, Tang Si, who had just come aboard and was tinkering with her things nearby, looked at him and said.

Qin Ge glanced at Tang Si and said, "I mean the relationship between your commander and A Ruo Tuo Sha…"

"Oh, normal." Tang Si said just that and fell silent, continuing to fuss with the thing in her hand; Qin Ge could clearly see it was a detonator, and a high-explosive one at that—if mishandled it could blow up everything here.

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Qin Ge's forehead. Is the world of shipgirls always this stimulating? No protective measures, just handling this directly—is that okay? Has he just escaped the tiger's den only to fall into the wolf's lair?

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Xu Xin walked over and patted Qin Ge on the shoulder; Qin Ge's muscles tensed for a moment then relaxed. He pointed at Tang Si, who was tinkering with the detonator, and asked, "Do you and your shipgirls always get this stimulated every day?"

Xu Xin followed Qin Ge's finger and saw Tang Si holding a detonator. "Oh, it's fine; Tang Si is an outstanding explosives genius, her favorite thing is blowing up fish. These items are all her own creations for blowing up fish—although they look a bit unsafe, they work pretty well in practice."

"Hehe, the commander is getting more discerning, huh." Hearing Xu Xin's words, Tang Si excitedly lifted her head and said to Xu Xin; this attitude was completely different from how she had just faced Qin Ge.

"Hah, this isn't thanks to your training?" Xu Xin said with a smirk. "But today we won't blow up fish; we'll head back to port and have a proper meal later."

"All right." Tang Si nodded, and like a magic trick, the detonator vanished from her hand; Qin Ge watched, blinking in surprise.

Seeing Tang Si put away the detonator, Xu Xin nodded and said to Qin Ge beside him, "We're still a bit away from the port where our Grand Fleet is stationed; we'll probably get there around dusk. You just got such a big shock—rest a while first."

"No need to rest; I can still hold out for now. And your yacht is so clean—I don't need to be like this; I'd rather stay on deck. If I can get back to land, I'll be truly grateful." Qin Ge laughed, pointing at his already navy‑black uniform trousers and shirt, and said to Xu Xin.

"Uh… I didn't think of that, but to be honest, there really aren't any clothes on this boat that would fit you." Xu Xin said somewhat embarrassedly, because his height is only about 1.72 meters, while Qin Ge opposite him is at least 1.85 meters tall. "But going up on deck is fine; just sitting in the cabin will do, otherwise I'd seem too stingy."

Seeing Xu Xin's insistence, Qin Ge couldn't really refuse; after expressing his thanks, he sat properly in the corner of the cabin, while Xu Xin temporarily went off to attend to his own affairs.

After sitting a while, with nothing to do, Qin Ge prepared to lean against the wall and rest his eyes, but unintentionally he noticed a stack of casually placed books nearby; out of curiosity he picked one up, intending to flip through it to see the script of this world.

Bringing the book before his eyes, he saw the text was still regular Chinese characters; Qin Ge breathed a sigh of relief. Since language and script posed no barrier, surviving in this world would be no problem. As for returning to his former world, he could only take it slowly.

The book's title was *On the Decisive Role of the Commander in Naval Combat*; this immediately piqued Qin Ge's interest. He wanted to see how naval combat in this world differed from and resembled that in his original world, so he quickly flipped the pages, and time began to slip away as he focused.

At that moment, in a room of the yacht, Xu Xin was looking at a nautical chart when the door suddenly opened and Tang Si entered. Xu Xin didn't even lift his head as he asked, "What is Qin Ge doing?"

"Sitting in the corner reading a book." Tang Si said, jumping onto the chair opposite Xu Xin and looking at him as she spoke.

"Reading a book?" Upon hearing that answer, Xu Xin raised his head with interest and looked at Tang Si opposite him, saying, "I recall the books previously placed in that corner were the ones the commander had me study, right?"

"That's right, they're all the commander's most hated theoretical books." Tang Si nodded and chuckled.

"What do you mean by my hated theoretical books? Clearly those books just discuss principles that are too profound, and for a small Grand Fleet like ours, how could we possibly face that kind of large‑scale naval operation? In my view, improving your training and strengthening your own ship equipment is the proper way." Xu Xin rolled his eyes, looked at Tang Si's smiling eyes, and continued, "That said, those naval theory books require a certain theoretical foundation to be understood, so Qin Ge's identity is not simple. Moreover, from his posture, sitting, speech, gait, and a few small details, he seems like a soldier. Tang Si, do you think he could be from the army?"

"My commander, the army has already withdrawn inland to build defensive lines; do you think a solitary army could appear there?" Tang Si said helplessly.

"Uh, that's true." Xu Xin nodded, but added, "However, that spot is the edge of our defense zone, not the commander's—there's basically no way to get close, right?"

Tang Si shook her head firmly. "Impossible; he doesn't have the aura of a shipgirl."

"Not a commander, but having a military bearing and being able to understand naval combat theory—that's really rare." Xu Xin laughed and sighed.

"Moreover, I can tell he genuinely doesn't know where he is, and before the commander introduced your identity, he seemed to know nothing about this world." Tang Si said.

"Interesting," Xu Xin said suddenly, "you say, if I recommend him to my alma mater, will the principal let me into the school later?"

"She might still make you pay…" Tang Si said after a moment's hesitation.

"Pay…" Xu Xin's head suddenly swelled, "How did you even think of blowing up the principal's favorite garden back then?"

"Because there are fish in the pond, I love blowing up fish! So… that time was just a mistake—I put in a bit too much explosive. If I did it again, I'd definitely just blow up the pond." Tang Si said with certainty.

"Huh? You still want to do it again? Spare me!" Xu Xin wailed, flung himself onto the table, and was unable to get up…